Notes from the AGM meeting held on 4th January. 
The Annual General Meeting was held on 4th January. The newly appointed officials for the 2026 club managements are shown in section 3 below.

1 Outgoing Officers Reports
1.1 General Secretary:
The General Secretary – Toni Caswell was pleased to report that the club membership has risen to 134 members (130 male, 4 female) with the possibility of further female members. Overall, the club activities have been well supported and are running smoothly.

1.2 Club Captain:
2025 Club Captain Martin said that it had been a privilege to be the club captain. The support from club members has been appreciated and he expressed his thanks to Toni and Nigel, all the team captains and officials and Steve, Andy and Centre staff. and he congratulated all the winners of the various event. The support to the Captain’s Charity resulted in a donation of £4735.

1.3 Hardy A Captain
Craig Pitcher, the Hardy A Captain reported that they had enjoyed the events and the matches had been well supported. The team always played to win even though there were tough matches.

1.4 Hardy B Captain
Captain Nigel thanked all the players that had supported the Hardy B matches. He expected the season to be very tough but the team played really well and won 6 from 8 matches to finish with a 30 point lead. New courses will be played next year including a local derby at Sherborne G C.

1.5 Three Counties League Captain
No Report available. (Note: The team finished in second place in the league and had won the shield)

1.6 Senior Captain’s Report
In the absence of the Senior Captain, Gary Rogers stated that the senior team had played 11 matches, winning 5, drawn 1 and lost 5. The number of senior fixtures has been reduced to a more manageable number in 2026.He thanked all the players who had supported the senior games.

1.7 Handicap Secretary’s Report
Martin, in his role as handicap secretary was pleased that the handicapping activities had gone well apart from a few issues with setting up competitions. There had been 168 competitions. The most competitions played was Tony Smith who played 126. For the Calendar year, the hardest hole was hole 11 and the easiest was Hole 1. Martin also advised that the Howdidido Golf App was being updated as a trial version from 12th January and would replace the existing App which will be superseded later this year. There is a small charge to download the new App. The web based system will continue into the future at no charge.

2 Treasurers Report:
Treasurer Debbie Hinks tabled a detailed financial report and reported that the club finances remained in a healthy position (Note: The financial details are available to members to review in the club house).

3 Election of 2026 Officials

The following officials were appointed as follows:
General Secretary Toni Caswell 
Treasurer Debbie Hinks 
Welfare/Safety Officer Toni Caswell 
Fixture Secretary Steve Harris 
Handicap Secretary Martin Blatchford 
Webmaster Geoff Bannister 
Media M Blatchford 
General Committee Members:  D Leney, A Wynne, M Jennings, A Cole, P Anyan.

Club Captain: Nigel Bow
Club Vice Captain: Merv Jennings
Senior Captain: Gary Rogers
Hardy A Captain: Craig Pitcher
Hardy A Vice Captain: Nathan Lambourne
Hardy B Captain: Nigel Bow
Hardy B Vice Captain: Reece Lambert
3 Counties Captain: Grant Jones
3 Counties Vice Captain: Simon Bellamy.

4 Club Membership Fees
The membership fees have not changed for some time and the committee agreed to increase membership fees by £5 as follows:
New Members that do not have a registered H/C.- £125
(includes 3 rounds courtesy of the centre for H/C establishment)
New members with a current official handicap. - £105
Existing members renewal fee - £75
Junior Membership fees were increased by £10 to cover the increased affiliation and insurance costs.
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5  Match Fees
The match fees for internal club matches and competitions were agreed unchanged as shown below.
Sunday Medal
Centre Members £3 (includes £1 for 2 Spot)
Non Centre Members £18 (Includes £1 for 2 Spot.

Other Club Competitions - Centre Members £2, Non Centre Members £18
Thursday Medal
Tiger Trophy
RTTV (£3)
Summer & Winter Knockouts

Hardy A and B – Home matches do not incur green fees. Hospitality arrangements are to be discussed and agreed by Toni and the team captain to best meet the requirements of the team members.

Senior/3CL subsidy - £7.50 home, £5 away.


6 Club Calendar
The 2026 calendar showing the full schedule of events is currently being finalised and will be issued by the fixture secretary shortly.

7 Any Other Business
- Day Away
The day away is being organised by Tony Wynne and deposits have already been paid for Friday June 12th at Hampworth. 24 Spaces have been booked.

- Club Championships
Captain Martin explained that there had been comments about non-centre members paying the same fee as centre members for the club champs. This was debated by the committee and the result was a unanimous agreement to leave the entry fee the same for centre and non-centre members.

A further comment was raised about eligibility for entry into the champs competition. There had been occasions where members had entered without playing in any other club competition. This could result in inappropriate handicaps being applied. A proposal by Martin Blatchford, seconded by Nigel Bow was passed unanimously that at least 5 club competitions must be played to be eligible to play in the club champs. .

- AGM Notice
It was suggested that a round robin communication to all members could be beneficial for promoting club activities with the members. This is being assessed by the club secretary

- Tiger Trophy
Jeff Lambourne asked if it was possible to play the Tiger trophy matches later in the day. The committee agreed that this was not possible if the holes were moved during the day. Martin agreed to discuss this with Green Keeper Andy.

- Senior Match Schedules
Senior Captain Gary Rogers asked if the Tiger Trophy could be rescheduled when they clashed with external matches. This to be discussed with the fixture secretary Steve.

8 Closing Remarks
The new club captain Nigel thanked the members for attending the meeting and for their support to the club and club house throughout the year. He also thanked Martin for his efforts as club captain and his support throughout the year. Nigel went on to present Martin with a parting gift by way of appreciation from the club house management. He finished by wishing everyone good luck and a successful year of golf at Folke .He was presented with the Green Jacket by retiring captain Martin.

9 Next Meeting
The next meeting will be the February Committee meeting at Folke at 6:30 pm on Wednesday February 11.th. All members welcome.